Taxpayer to foot €3.7m bill for Susi grants paid in error

More than 1,200 students mistakenly paid €3,000 each in grants were able to keep the money after authorities admitted there was no hope of getting it back.

The taxpayer was left to foot the €3.7m bill after student grants body Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) failed to recoup the grants paid in error in 2012 to ineligible candidates.

The overpayments to more than 1,200 people happened in Susi’s first year of operation, when inadequate staffing and poor planning dogged the system. The overpayments have already been subject to examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General in a broader probe of the process to establish Susi as the centralised body to handle all college grant applications.